Happy Easter!

Santa Barbara Presidio

Founded April 21, 1782, the Santa Barbara Royal Presidio was the last in a chain of four military fortresses built by the Spanish along the coast of Alta California, then a wilderness frontier. Others had been established at San Diego, San Francisco and Monterey. Padre Junípero Serra, well known for his leadership in founding the California missions, blessed the site of the Santa Barbara Presidio four years prior to the establishment of the Mission of Santa Barbara in 1786.


Our Cub Scouts and families attended Founding Day on Saturday.  Activities included making adobe bricks, seeing a presentation of the way wool was spun, seeing a real black smith work iron, watching participants in Spanish uniform, hearing a hymn sung as Fr. Junipero Serra would have sung it when he dedicated the Presidio chapel, making pottery bowls, digging up pieces of pottery and glass in an archeological dig, and seeing them fire off a canon twice.

Other boys covered their ears from the din, but Stephen is used to this noise level at home.

The kids really enjoyed making adobe bricks, but we wondered why.  Isn't this what they do in the back yard every day?

End of an Era

After a lot of use and exposure to the sun, the wood was twisted and cracked.  The whole swingset racked terribly, especially when the big kids were on it.  Theresa was worried that someone could be injured.  I argued that a little injury never hurt anyone.  In the end, it came down.

Everyone helped with demolition.  If or when we get another, it will be metal.

Semaphore Baby

Alan did the Signaling merit badge last year, learning morse code and semaphore.  We looked online for some videos showing how to do semaphore and here is what we found:

And here is what came of it:

To explain, her nickname is "Booie".  Booie is from the 'Boo' in Peek-a-Boo.

At least he's not selling drugs.

Some Results

Famous last words: "If we only call him 'Gregory', no will shorten it to 'Greg'."

Before and During

Now that Naomi can move on her own, we need a new baby gate at the entrance to the school room.  Otherwise, she would add fiber to her diet in the form of pencil shavings and she would get her greens by gnawing on crayons.  We have wasted enough money on store-bought baby gates, so I am going to make one out of a single board, one pair of hinges and one gate bolt:

It is done in three easy steps:
1) Cut the wood this way and that.
2) Glue it together.
3) Attach the hardware and hang.

Here is step one:

What?  You've never seen one of these saws before?

I have gotten bit by the make-your-own-tools bug that is contagious among woodworkers.  Here is a frame saw getting its first real use.  It is very functional, but I will make some improvements.  The handles are a bit too thick and the sides pieces will be pared down for aesthetic reasons.  (I did buy the blade, but the other hardware is modified from normal bolts and such.)  I counted that it takes 21 strokes to cut 6 inches of wood.  (This is a rip cut, where the cut is made in the same direction as the grain.)

I used to have a table saw,* but I got rid of it for safety reasons.  Some recent things I read about table saw saftey emphasized the need to use the saw only in a place where one could not be surprised by pets or children  . . .

*I never bought a table saw, but I borrowed one from my neighbor and did not give it back for years.  In California that makes the table saw common property, so I was at least co-owner.  I have now given the saw back, but I get to see it two weekends a month.

The video above was shot by Isabel shortly after 7:00 in the morning and no neighbors lost any sleep over it.  Nor did I need eye or ear protection.  And while it may not be as sweet as the sound of a baseball hitting a bat, there is something pleasant in the sound of wood being sawn by hand.